


Stars in the Sky

by abraxos_sniffing_flowers



Series: Cassiopeia and Canis Major [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pining, family holiday, that one where cassie actually acts like a teenaged girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 06:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13969425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abraxos_sniffing_flowers/pseuds/abraxos_sniffing_flowers
Summary: Every summer, the Flint-Wood's go on holidays to a cabin in Bulgaria. It is a summer of lying around enjoying the weather, playing quidditch most afternoons and bad puns.And then, Cassie's usual bad luck comes into play.~Or, that one where Cassie gets her scars.





	Stars in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chameau](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chameau/gifts).



> The lovely Chameau left me a wonderful comment that inspired me to write this. This is an extension of Stars Aligned, so I would suggest reading that first, but you do you.

Cassie hated the flu system. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just take a car. They were absolutely fascinating, even if she didn’t know how to drive one, as the muggles said. Neither did either of her fathers. So she was stuck with the flu network.

 

She landed in the Bulgarian cabin, nearly tripping over her suitcase and the family quidditch ball chest in her hands, cursing like a sailor and then thanking Merlin that her dads weren’t there to hear it. And that James wasn’t there to watch it. The entire cool facade that she had built around him would be ruined if he was.

 

She straightens and shakes her head to dislodge any ash in her faded blue hair. She would get Oliver to recolour it when they got back to their cottage in Scotland, but for now the pastel colour of it wasn’t terrible.

 

The flames burst green again and Marcus slid out next, holding his duffle bag and all of their broomsticks. Oliver followed quickly after with his bag. Cassie was walking away before Marcus had hauled Oliver to his feet. She wanted to unpack her bag before dinner, which would be soon based on the rapidly setting sun she could see out the window in her usual bedroom.

 

She quickly put all her clothes in the chest of drawers before pulling her Slytherin banner out of the bottom and pinning it to the wall above her four poster bed. Finally, she grabbed the photo frame out of her duffle and placed it on her bedside. 

 

The moving photo had been taken just weeks ago, after the quidditch grand final. James and her stood on the pitch in their differing uniforms, both covered in mud and sopping wet from the rain, but their faces were lit up with laughter that could outshine the sun. She had held the quidditch cup that year, what with her being the seeker. James had hugged her instead of shaking her hand. That game would have to be her favourite memory of the school year. Cassie notes that the photo makes James’ stars shine on his face. She blushes and turns away towards the mirror in her bathroom.

 

She takes the concealment charm off her cheeks and glares at the stars that rest there, along with a plethora of freckles. They really threw off her face.

 

She counts off her stars. 9 stars for Canis Major, including Sirius, and 5 for Cassiopeia, the queen herself. James didn’t know either of them, thank goodness, or she would be royally screwed. No, he had flunked astronomy more often than anyone else Cassie knew. It was almost strange they were soulmates, considering Cassie’s opposing love for the night sky. The universe works in crazy ways.

 

“Cassie, dinner!” Marcus yells up the stairs. Cassie quickly reapplies her charm and bounds down the stairs of the family cabin and into the kitchen, where Oliver was serving up some pasta dish and Marcus was pouring two glasses of wine. 

 

Oh, how she loved summer. She liked spending time with her dads, with their home cooked meals, quidditch puns and loving aura. Her dads are the best people she knows and she loves them just as much as they love her. Oliver slides her pasta to her and they dig in. It was going to be a good summer, she could tell.

 

~

 

“I was thinking we could have a family pickup game this afternoon. You guys in?” Marcus asks on their fourth day of holidays, as they’re scaling the mountain side, following the path up and up. Cassie nods excitedly and Marcus turns to his husband who nods just as excitedly.

 

“I’m just saying it now, but good luck to both of you,” her dad’s scoff in amusement, making her continue, “I’m the best player Slytherin has seen in a hundred years and you two are getting old and sloppy,” she says it teasingly and Marcus pulls her under his arm.

 

“If you say so, kiddo,” Marcus ruffles her hair before letting her go.

 

“This is gonna be interesting,” Oliver grins and continues to lead them up the trail. It was indeed.

 

~

 

Cassie was doing victory laps around their impromptu pitch, a giddy smile on her face and their beat up snitch in her left hand. She had won. Both of her fathers grumbled with joking scowls on their faces, but they were glad to see Cassie in such high spirits. It had been a while since they had actually seen her smile like she was right now.

 

“Alright, Cassie, go get cleaned up and ready to go out for dinner!” She shot Oliver a thumbs up and began to slow down, coming to a halt. She jumped off her broom and was gone a second later. “It’s good to see her like that,” Oliver whispered as he tugged his husband closer. Marcus nods solemnly.

 

“I dropped off some clothes into her room today. She has a photo on her nightstand of her and Potter’s eldest. They looked happy together. Like the type of happy only soulmates achieve,” Oliver sighed and poked his husbands side.

 

“We discussed this Marc. She’ll tell him when she’s ready and it’s not right for us to push her into it.”

 

“If I remember correctly, our friends locked us in one of the quidditch dressing rooms after a game until we snogged,” Oliver snorted.

 

“We are not our friends. And Cassie is our daughter. We need to have tact,” Marcus sighs.

 

“Fine, but I’m bringing it up at dinner,” and with that, he pulled away from Oliver and jogged toward the house.

 

~

 

Marcus watched his husband and his daughter over a plate of Kebapche as they attempted to come up with the world’s cringiest quidditch joke (half of which were more painful than actually funny.) His daughter was still buoyant after the quidditch game and was happy to throw out witty one-liners that could match Oliver in sass and have them both crying with laughter.

 

Marcus decided to broach the subject over desert, when they were all almost in a food coma. He leaned an elbow on the table and leant forward a bit.

 

“So Cass, how is Cassius’ son nowadays. I know you were dating him at Christmas. Is that still going?” The question was innocent enough, but it could open up so many different avenues depending on the answer.

 

“We, uh, we broke up. Hogwarts got a new transfer student from Beauxbatons, who turned out to be Zac’s soulmate so… yeah. We’re still friends though,” she answers absently while scooping hergelato up.

 

“And how’s Potter? You guys are friends right?” Cassie looks up at him with her green eyes narrowed.

 

“Yes. We’re just friends. _Nothing more_ ,” Cassie says through gritted teeth. Marcus watches her and smirks. Her shoulders were taut and she was holding her spoon hard enough for her knuckles to go white.

 

“But you want more, don’t you?” Cassie gently puts her spoon down on the table and calmly leans forward to rest her chin on her interlaced fingers.

 

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. I don’t know. But what I do know is that there is no way in hell that James will ever want me as a soulmate. We just wouldn’t work. So, if we could please drop this conversation so I can get back my gelato, I’d appreciate it.” And she did just that, picking up her spoon and continuing to eat.

 

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t want you Cass. You’re the best person I know,” Oliver told her softly, but their daughter was stubborn. She wasn’t going to discuss it anymore. 

 

They went back to dinner.

 

~

 

Cassie sat in bed that night, holding her photo frame and watching the faces in the photo, how happy they looked together. The look they shared between each other before bursting into laughter, like just being with each other made them that happy. It reminded her of Marcus and Oliver. She didn’t want any of it.

 

No, that was wrong. She didn’t deserve any of it. He was everything she wasn’t.

 

It was James _freaking_ Potter. A girl like her couldn’t snatch up someone like him. He was famous, and strong…

 

_… And oh so dreamy._

 

She threw herself back on her bed. It was a conundrum. The type that only got solved one way when it came to her.

 

~

 

_Gone for a run, be back sometime before lunch._

 

_Please don’t defile public areas of the house._

 

_xo Cassie._

 

The letter sat discarded on the kitchen counter as Oliver and Marcus sat under a blanket with glasses of wine in their hands. It was rare to have a moment like this in their hectic lives, to just be able to be with each other.

 

Marcus was running his hand softly up Oliver’s thigh when they saw the red sparks fly through the air. They were out of the cabin in seconds. Red sparks were a universal panic signal. They ran and they ran, eventually finding the source of the sparks. And their daughter, covered in blood that had to be her own.

 

They were at St. Mungo’s within seconds.

 

~

 

“How’s she doing, Johnson?” Oliver asks desperately as Angelina comes out to speak to them.

 

“Even with magic, it was difficult and we will have to watch her for the next couple of days. Some of the slashes went bone deep… to be perfectly honest, I’m surprised you found her alive after she lost all that blood.”

 

“But she’ll be okay?”

 

“We’ll honestly have to wait and see if she wakes up. And if she does, we will need to check she didn’t sustain nerve damage. We just need to hope that her luck continues. Is there anything else you want to know or you might want to ask for your daughter?”

 

“Will she ever be able to fly on a broom or play quidditch again?” Both Oliver and Angelina look at Marcus with vague disapproval, but he doesn’t cower. “I can guarantee you that that will be the first thing Cassie asks when you tell her these things.” Angelina sighs.

 

“If Cassie sustains the nerve damage we think she will, it’ll be a miracle if she can properly walk again,” her heart breaks as she watches Marcus Flint, the toughest man she knows, break. He walks back to his seat and places his head in his hands, his shoulders drooping. Angelina hugs her ex-quidditch captain tightly before pulls away to walk back the way she came.

 

“You know, Angie may be a genius, but just this once she’s wrong,” Oliver whispers when he sits down, making Marcus turn to him. “Our daughter’s not lucky, she’s a bloody… spiteful contrarian when she wants to be… She’s going to wake up and she’s going to be fine, just because the doctors say that she probably isn’t, okay?” Marcus nods, pushing his face into Oliver’s neck so no one in the waiting area could see his eyes flooded with tears. 

 

“Oli, she’s my daughter. I can’t lose her,” Oliver tucked him further into his arms and rested his lips in Marcus’ hair.

 

“I know… I know.”

~

 

“She’s still unconscious, but you can go see her. And boys, talk to her. Keep it positive, okay?” They stood from their chairs and speed walked toward their daughter. And paused when they opened the door to her room.

 

She was so much paler than usual. And her whole body was covered in stitches, her face the most so. The four scars ran jaggedly down her face, from temple to chin, just missing her eyes. They were red and puffy and looked more painful than the worst quidditch injuries. They sat there for hours and talked about Quidditch and Hogwarts and every other positive thing they good think of.

 

~

 

72 hours later and Oliver had left to go get their stuff from the cabin and changed out of the blood-stained clothe’s that he had been wearing since he had carried Cassie in St. Mungo’s. Marcus was still sitting beside Cassie’s bed, holding her way too pale and cold hand in his.

 

“You know, kid, to me you’ll will always be that tiny 4 year old we had just adopted, sitting in the living room in my favourite armchair, sipping hot chocolate out of mug way too big for your way too small hands, or jumping on your new bed with this… brilliant smile on your face. You used to love spaghettio’s and the swing set in the backyard and when Oliver shot fireworks from his wand… And I’m never gonna to forget the way your face lit up like a… like a damn Christmas tree the first time I took you to one of Oliver’s games, or the way you walked around smiling for days after you got your mark. Or that letter you sent me the night after your first flying lesson… _Merlin_ , that thing went on and on for two pages and was filled with exclamation points and it was _so_ messy, but I could tell from that moment forward, you were going to be just like us, an absolute fanatic… But, I think my favourite memory Cass, was when we came and picked you up at King’s Cross for Christmas break. You had been gone for so long and you just… completely bypassed Oliver and ran straight to me and hugged me so tight. You were so excited and you talked all the way home about quidditch and potions and how… how awesome it all was. When we asked you what last name you wanted to take and you said mine I almost cried.” 

 

”The day we got the letter from McGonnagall about how you’d flooded the fifth floor corridor with bloody… James Potter, I was so mad. And then you did that thing, that thing you do where you hug me and say ‘It was all just a silly prank’ and I always forgave you. Right about now, I’d kill for you to wake up and say that it was all just a prank. I just need to wake up and smile… or don’t, I think that would tear your stitches, but, you know what I mean. Just, come back to us Cassie,” he rest his head on their clasped hands. He didn’t know how long he stayed there for before she spoke.

 

“That speech was so good I would clap, but you’re kinda squeezing my hand to death, dad,” her voice sounds like she had swallowed glass but her eyes were bright and alive when he looked up. “You really think a Manticore could kill me, come on.” He jumps up and hugs her tightly, making her wince. “Ow, ow, ow, stitches on my chest, stitches on my chest,” he lets her go, a sheepish expression on his face as he mutters an apology. Cassie looks around the room, wincing as it pulls the stitches on her neck. 

 

“Where’s other dad?”

 

“Getting our stuff from the cabin. He got a little dirty from carrying you.” Cassie looks up as the door opens behind him.

 

“Oh, good, you’re awake and talking. Is it alright if we do some tests before you get too settled in this bed?” Angelia says as she approaches. Cassie nods at the request, allowing the nurses to roll her cover up off her feet. Angelina walks to the end of the end.

 

“Cassie, close your eyes and tell me if you can feel this,” she closes her eyes and feels a sharp pain in her foot, making her cry out in pain. She opens her eyes to see everyone around her smiling. “Close your eyes again, Cassie,” she listens to Angelina haltingly and yells out again as the same thing happens.

 

“Merlin, doc, could you stop stabbing me for a sec.”

 

“So you can feel it?”

 

“No, I just shout in pain for fun,” she winces when Marcus pokes her but even he can’t get the smile off his face. Neither can the doctor’s.

 

“What?”

 

“Doctor Johnson here said that there was a high chance you would have nerve damage and wouldn’t walk again, but if you can feel things in your feet, that’s good,” Cassie turns to look at her doctor.

 

“So I’ll be able to fly… and- and play quidditch right?” Angelina groaned at the question.

 

“I knew this would happen if your dads ever had a child. Bloody quidditch fanatics, the lot of you,” she caught the look of absolute seriousness on Cassie’s face. “Yes, Cassie, from what I’m seeing here, it’s highly likely you’ll be back on a broom in no time,” her face lit up, before falling back into a neutral expression as it disturbs her stitches. 

 

“That’s all I needed to hear, Johnson.”

 

~

 

Marcus and Oliver had left to shower and change at Cassie’s stubborn insistence. She sat in her bed and stared at the photo Oliver had given her before he left. As she watched the teens in the photo, she reassessed her decision to show James her mark. She was scarred up now and he was still… well, he was still one of the hottest guys she has ever seen in her life. 

 

Cassie didn’t even notice she was crying until the tears hit the glass. She wasn’t a weepy person in general, but this was just… unfair. Why couldn’t one part of her life be easy. And she had held back telling him because she wanted him to find happiness while she was learning to love herself, and as soon as she was ready, this happened, of course. Because that was her life, the universe screwing with her. 

 

Overwhelming anger coursed through her veins as she threw the photo down on the bed sheet with a small scream and beat the covers, the pain in her arms egging her on. If she couldn’t get on a broom, she would find another way to vent her frustrations.

 

It would be a long way to happiness.


End file.
